Advanced Cardiomyocyte Cell Culture

Discovery, Regenerative Medicine, Toxicity

Advanced cell culture techniques including 3D spheroids, micropatterned co-culture, bioengineered and flow-based systems, and bioprinting offer the potential to better mimic in vivo tissue structure and function. CDI’s cardiomyocytes are amenable to these culture techniques as pure cell populations or in co-culture with other cell types, such as CDI’s iCell Endothelial Cells.

Monitoring Cardiotoxicity

Discovery, Toxicity

Measurements of cell health are a fundamental component of any disease research and drug development effort. Cell health endpoints represent various biological processes including cell morphology, viability, cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and mitochondrial integrity. In drug development, researchers interrogate these endpoints as part of discovery screening efforts as well as toxicity studies. CDI’s cardiomyocytes have been utilized to measure various cardiac cell health endpoints using platforms including:

Measuring Cardiomyocyte Contractility

Discovery, Toxicity

The modulation of cardiomyocyte contraction (inotropy) is an important phenotypic endpoint for drug discovery, both in the context of intended outcomes and adverse side effects. CDI’s cardiomyocytes have been used to perform direct measurement of cellular movement or indirect measurement of changes in cell morphology using platforms including:

Detecting Cardiomyocyte Arrhythmia

Discovery, Toxicity

The development of cardiac arrhythmias as an unintended pharmacological side effect is the most common cause of drug withdrawal and restrictions placed on marketed drugs. CDI’s cardiomyocytes have emerged as the most physiologically relevant and predictive human in vitro model system for detecting drug-mediated arrhythmias. Researchers have demonstrated the utility of these cardiomyocytes for this application using platforms including:

Measuring Intracellular Signaling in Cardiomyocytes

Discovery, Toxicity

Various intracellular Ca2+ and phosphorylation-mediated signaling pathways play a central role in translating electrical signals at the cell membrane into physical contractile function. These pathways can be measured in CDI’s cardiomyocytes using platforms including:

Modeling Cardiac Hypertrophy

Discovery, Disease Modeling

Cardiac hypertrophy can occur in response to various pathological stimuli and is characterized by cellular changes including reactivation of the fetal gene program, increases in cellular volume, and reorganization of the cytoskeleton. Using CDI’s cardiomyocytes, researchers can induce the hypertrophic condition in vitro using stimuli, such as endothelin-1, and measured by phenotypic endpoints including:

Modeling Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Discovery, Disease Modeling

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a complication of type 2 diabetes that results from lifestyle and genetic conditions. CDI’s cardiomyocytes have been used to develop environmental and patient-specific in vitro models that recapitulate this complex metabolic condition. These models are employed in a phenotypic screening assay resulting in the identification of candidate protective molecules.

Bioengineering Cardiac Tissues

Regenerative Medicine

CDI’s cardiomyocytes are being applied in research aimed to develop and test a bioengineered, implantable cardiac patch for the treatment of heart failure. Initial studies demonstrate that the cardiac patches beat spontaneously and synchronously, respond to electrical stimulation, exhibit typical morphology, and improve cardiac function in rats with chronic heart failure.

High-throughput Screening

Discovery

Drug failure in the clinic is most often attributed to either unforeseen toxicity or a lack of demonstrated efficacy. Thus, predictive in vitro models that more accurately reflect in vivo disease states can inform the preclinical processes of drug discovery and development ensuring higher success rate in the eventual clinical setting. CDI’s iCell and MyCell products offer a wide range of innate, engineered, and induced disease models for screening, hit-to-lead, and lead optimization efforts. The cells are amenable to gene modulation and culture in high-density multiwell plates. iCell and MyCell products have been used in high-throughput screens across various disease areas including infectious disease, neurological disorders, diabetes, and cardiomyopathies.

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